A British woman is among four tourists arrested for stripping naked on a Malaysian mountain, a move locals claim angered tribal spirits and caused a deadly earthquake. The Westerners have been accused of posing in the nude for pictures on the country’s highest peak last month just days before an earthquake killed 18 climbers on the mountain.
The British woman was detained at a Sabah airport yesterday while trying to fly to Kuala Lumpur. Two Canadian siblings and a Dutch man surrendered themselves at a police station in Sabah later that evening, said state police chief Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman.
They were believed to be part of a group of 10 people who stripped naked before taking photos at Mount Kinabalu on May 30.
The men were completely nude, while most, if not all of the women were topless in the photos, which were circulated on social media.
A 6.0-magnitude earthquake on Friday sent rocks and boulders raining down the trekking routes on the 4,095m (13,453ft) mountain in Sabah on Borneo island, killing 18 climbers.
The victims were nine Singaporeans, six Malaysians and a Filipino, a Chinese and a Japanese national.
Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan has blamed the tragedy on the foreigners for showing ‘disrespect to the sacred mountain’ by posing naked at the peak.
He has said a special ritual will be conducted to ‘appease the mountain spirit.’
Mount Kinabalu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular climbing destination, is considered sacred by Malaysia’s Kadazan Dusun tribal group, who believe it is a resting place for spirits.
The quake damaged roads and buildings, including schools and a hospital on Sabah’s west coast.
It also broke one of the twin rock formations on the mountain known as the ‘Donkey’s Ears.’
Six other tourists are still apparently at large, according to police.
‘We detained all four of them on Tuesday… and yes we are still searching for the other six tourists, and we will catch them,’ said Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman, the police commissioner for the Malaysian State of Sabah where the mountain is located.
Jalaluddin said those detained might be charged for causing public nuisance.
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